Report on Environmental Court Cases

Author
Affiliation

Mojtaba Abolfazli, Adam Cohen

Planning and Research Division, Policy and Planning Department

This report presents statistics on both criminal and civil cases filed in Environmental Court between July 1, 2015, and May 31, 2025. Greater detail is provided on criminal cases, as they make up the majority of those brought before Environmental Court. Note that TC, TI, and TP case types were excluded; however, motor vehicle charges could appear under case types CC or CW.

Criminal Cases

Case Filing

Here we look at cases filed in Environmental Court by circuit and type of case. For cases involving more than one charge, the most severe charge has been selected to define the case.

The following tables show cases filed in Environmental Court by Circuit and District Courts during the study period, categorized by type of charge. The charges have been grouped into \(12\) broader categories to provide a clearer and more concise representation. As shown, the majority of cases were filed in District Courts.

Circuit Court 1st Circuit 2nd Circuit 3rd Circuit 5th Circuit Total
Charge Category
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District Court 1st District 2nd District 3rd District 5th District Total
Charge Category
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A detailed breakdown of cases by court and fiscal year is presented in the table below.

Case Termination

This section provides statistics on cases terminated in Environmental Court, broken down by court and fiscal year. Terminations are defined by two status categories: CLOSEDJ and CLOSEDS. Separate tables are provided for Circuit and District Courts.

Circuit Court 1st Circuit 2nd Circuit 3rd Circuit 5th Circuit Total
Fiscal Year
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District Court 1st District 2nd District 3rd District 5th District Total
Fiscal Year
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Charge Disposition

Below, we provided the disposition of charges in District and Circuit Courts. Other in disposition category includes Deferred Plea, Committed to Circuit Court, Remanded to District Court, Stricken, and NOA disposition code.

By May 31, 2025, approximately \(90\%\) of charges in District Courts and \(91\%\) in Circuit Courts had been disposed.

Civil Cases

This section presents statistics on civil cases filed in Environmental Court between July 1, 2015, and May 31, 2025. In total, \(128\) cases were inintiated during this period.

Circuit Court 1st Circuit 2nd Circuit 3rd Circuit 5th Circuit Total
Fiscal Year
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The table below shows the status of civil cases filed in Environmental Court during the study period. As of May 31, 2025, \(75\) out of \(128\) cases had been terminated, and one additional case had been adjudicated but not yet terminated.

Circuit Court 1st Circuit 2nd Circuit 3rd Circuit 5th Circuit Total
Case Status
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